Malaria remains an enormous global health problem Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases in the world today, as it has been for thousands of years. For each of the 1 million people killed each year, hundreds of millions more suffer from severe illness (1). Spread by mosquitoes from person to person malaria remains one of the most widespread infectious diseases of our time. There are five identified species of the parasite responsible for human malaria all belonging to genus Plasmodium. P. falciparum is the dominant species in sub-Saharan Africa, and is responsible for the majority of the malaria-related deaths. P. vivax, known to be responsible for relapsing malaria, causes as much as 25-40% of the global malaria burden, whereas P. ovale, and P. malariae represent a small percentage of infections. A fifth species P. knowlesi, a species that infects subhuman primates, has Jed to human malaria, but the exact mode of transmission remains unclear.
The impact of malaria is particularly devastating in sub-Saharan Africa where its victims are primarily young children and pregnant women. This situation is worsened by the growing emergence of Plasmodium parasites that are resistant to multiple drugs (2). The list of drugs that are losing potency against malaria includes the quinolines—chloroquine, quinine, and mefloquine; the antifolates—pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine; and the anti-respiratory combination of atovaquone (ATV) and proguanil. In SE Asia, treatment of multidrug resistant malaria relies solely on the endoperoxide artesunate, leaving a razor thin wall of opposition to the total collapse of malaria chemotherapy. One of the greatest challenges in global health today is the development of a safe and affordable drug for treatment and prevention of malaria (3).